Y.R. 655 for the argument, but tore Furius in pieces. B.C. Thus every 99 year some new deed of abomination was committed in the forum. Metellus was allowed to return, and it is said that a whole day was not sufficient for the greetings of those who went to meet him at the city gates. Such was the third civil strife (that of Saturninus) which succeeded those of the two Gracchi, and such results it brought to the Romans. CHAPTER V Origin of the Social War - Measures of Livius Drusus - Murder of out. - The Consul 34. While they were thus occupied the so-called Social War, in which many Italian peoples were engaged, broke It began unexpectedly, grew to great proportions rapidly, and extinguished the Roman seditions for a long time by a new terror. When it was ended it gave rise to new seditions under more powerful leaders, who did not work by introducing new laws, or by playing the demagogue, but by employing whole armies against each other. I have treated it in this history because it had its origin in a Roman sedition and resulted in another one much worse. 629 It began in this way. Fulvius Flaccus in his consulship 125 first openly excited among the Italians the desire for Roman citizenship, so as to be partners in the hegemony instead of subjects. When he introduced this idea and strenuously persisted in it, the Senate, for that reason, sent him away to take command in a war, in the course of which his consulship expired, but he obtained the tribuneship after that and managed to have the younger Gracchus for a colleague, with whose coöperation he brought forward other measures in favor of the Italians. When they were both killed, as I have previously related, the Italians were still more excited. They could not bear to be considered subjects instead of equals, or to think that Flaccus and Gracchus should suffer such calamities while working for their political advantage. Y.R. B. C. 663 35. After them the tribune Livius Drusus, a man of most 91 illustrious birth, promised the Italians, at their urgent request, that he would bring forward a new law to give them citizenship. They desired this especially because by that one step they would become rulers instead of subjects. In order to conciliate the plebeians to this measure he led out to Italy and Sicily several colonies which had been voted some time before, but not yet planted. He endeavored to bring to an agreement the Senate and the equestrian order, who were then in sharp antagonism to each other, in reference to the law courts. As he was not able to restore the courts to the Senate openly, he tried the following artifice on both of them. As the senators had been reduced by the seditions to scarcely 300 in number, he brought forward a law that an equal number should be added to their enrolment from the knights, to be chosen according to merit, and that the law courts should be made up from all of these hereafter. He provided in the law that they should make investigations about bribery, as accusations of that kind were almost unknown, since the custom of bribetaking prevailed without restraint. This was the plan that he contrived for both of them, but it turned out contrary to his expectations, for the senators were indignant that so large a number should be added to their enrolment at one time and be transferred from knighthood to the highest rank. They thought it not unlikely that they would form a faction in the Senate by themselves and contend against the old senators more powerfully than ever. The knights, on the other hand, suspected that, by this doctoring, the courts of justice would be transferred from their order to the Senate exclusively. Having acquired a relish for the great gains and power of the judicial office, this suspicion disturbed them. Most of them fell into doubt and distrust toward each other, discussing which ones seemed more worthy than others to be enrolled among the 300; and envy against their betters filled the breasts of the remainder. Above all were they angry at the revival of the charge of bribery, which they thought had been ere this entirely suppressed, so far as they were concerned. 36. Thus it came to pass that both the Senate and the knights, although opposed to each other, were united in Y.R. 663 hating Drusus. Only the plebeians were gratified with the colonies. The Italians, in whose interest chiefly Drusus was devising these plans, were apprehensive about the law. providing for the colonies, because they thought that the Roman public domain (which was still undivided and which they were cultivating, some by force and others clandestinely) would be taken away from them, and that in many cases they might even be disturbed in their private holdings. The Etruscans and the Umbrians had the same fears as the Italians,' and when they were summoned to the city, as it was thought, by the consuls, ostensibly for the purpose of complaining against the law of Drusus, but actually, as is believed, for the purpose of killing him, they cried down the law publicly and waited for the day of the comitia. Drusus learned of the plot against him and did not go out frequently, but transacted business from day to day in the atrium of his house, which was poorly lighted. One evening as he was sending the crowd away he exclaimed suddenly that he was wounded, and fell down while uttering the words. A shoemaker's knife was found thrust into his hip. 37. Thus was Drusus also slain while serving as tribune. The knights, in order to make his policy a ground of accusation against their enemies, persuaded the tribune Quintus Varius to bring forward a law to prosecute those who should, either openly or secretly, aid the Italians to acquire citizenship. They hoped to bring all the leaders under malicious indictment, and themselves to sit in judgment on them, and that when their enemies were out of the way they should be more powerful than ever in the government of Rome. When the other tribunes interposed their veto the knights surrounded them with drawn daggers and enacted the measure, whereupon accusers at once brought actions against the most illustrious of the senators. Of these Bestia did not respond, but went into exile voluntarily rather than surrender himself into the hands of his enemies. After him Cotta went before the court, made a brilliant defence of his administration of public affairs, and openly reviled the knights. He, too, departed from the 1 Until the end of the third century B.C. the word " Italy" applied only to that part of the peninsula south of Etruria and Umbria. B.C. 91 Y.R. B.C. 663 city before the vote of the judges was taken. Mummius, 917 the one who had conquered Greece, was basely ensnared by the knights, who promised to acquit him, but condemned him to banishment. He passed the remainder of his life at Delos. 38. As this wickedness prevailed more and more against the best citizens, the people were grieved because they were deprived all at once of so many men who had rendered such great services. When the Italians learned of the killing of Drusus and of the reason alleged for banishing the others, they considered it no longer bearable that those who were laboring for their political advancement should suffer such outrages, and as they saw no other means of acquiring citizenship they decided to revolt from the Romans altogether, and to make war against them with all their might. They sent envoys to each other secretly, formed a league, and exchanged hostages as a pledge of good faith. The Romans were in ignorance of these facts for a long time, being preoccupied by the judicial proceedings and the seditions in the city. When they heard what was going on they sent men around to the towns, choosing those who were best acquainted with each, to collect information quietly. One of these saw a young man who was being taken as a hostage from the town of Asculum to another town, and informed Servilius, the proconsul in those parts. (It appears that there were proconsuls at that time governing the various parts of Italy; Hadrian revived the custom a long time afterward when he held the supreme power, but it did not long survive him.) Servilius hastened to Asculum and indulged in very menacing language to the people, who were celebrating a festival, and they put him to death, supposing that the plot was discovered. They also killed Fonteius, his legate (for so they call those of the senatorial order who accompany the governors of provinces as assistants). After these were slain none of the other Romans in Asculum were spared. The inhabitants fell upon them, slaughtered them all, and plundered their goods. 664 39. When the revolt broke out all the neighboring 90 peoples showed their preparedness at the same time, the Marsi, the Peligni, the Vestini, the Marrucini; and after them the Picentines, the Frentani, the Hirpini, the Pom Y.R. B.C. 90 664 peiians, the Venusini, the Apulians, the Lucanians, and go the Samnites, all of whom had been hostile to the Romans before; also all the rest extending from the river Liris (which is now, I think, the Liternus) to the extremity of the Adriatic gulf, both inland and sea-coast. They sent ambassadors to Rome to complain that although they had coöperated in all ways with the Romans in building up the empire, the latter had not been willing to admit their helpers to citizenship. The Senate answered sternly that if they repented of what they had done they could send ambassadors, otherwise not. The Italians, in despair of any other remedy, went on with their preparations for war. Besides the soldiers which were kept for guards at each town, they had forces in common amounting to about 100,000 foot and horse. The Romans sent an equal force against them, made up of their own citizens and of the Italian peoples who were still in alliance with them. 40. The Romans were led by the consuls Sextus Julius Cæsar and Publius Rutilius Lupus, for in this great civil war both consuls marched forth at once, leaving the gates and walls in charge of others, as was customary in cases of danger arising at home or very near by. When the war was found to be complicated and many-sided, they sent their most renowned men as lieutenant-generals to aid the consuls: to Rutilius, Gnæus Pompeius, the father of Pompey the Great, Quintus Cæpio, Gaius Perpenna, Gaius Marius, and Valerius Messala; to Sextus Cæsar, Publius Lentulus, a brother of Cæsar himself, Titus Didius, Licinius Crassus, Cornelius Sulla, and Marcellus. All these served under the consuls and the country was divided among them. The consuls visited all parts of the field of operations, and the Romans sent them additional forces continually, knowing that it was a great conflict. The Italians had generals for their united forces besides those of the separate towns. The chief commanders were Titus Lafrenius, Gaius Pontilius, Marius Egnatius, Quintus Pompædius, Gaius Papius, Marcus Lamponius, Gaius Judacilius, Herius Asinius, and Vettius Cato. They divided their army in equal parts, took their positions against the Roman generals, performed many notable exploits, and |